The fact that the future of the Western Balkans was discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos without any Bosnian top officials present is a “big problem”, Bosnia's former Foreign Affairs Minister, Zlatko Lagumduzija, told N1 on Friday.

Lagumdzija was present at the event, but not as an official representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“None of Bosnia’s officials were there. One possibility is that nobody was invited, the other is that somebody was, but that this person thought they had something better to do. In both cases – this is a big problem,” Lagumdzija said, adding that “there was a serious discussion on the future of the Western Balkans” at the event.

“That frightens me, we are not being invited to gatherings where we are being discussed,” he said, adding that Bosnia “needs to be at that table, or else it will only be a napkin on which borders are being drawn up.”

He stressed that the international community has still not given up on the country but also mentioned that there is a part of Europe which perceives Bosnia in an islamophobic and hostile way.

The former leader of Bosnia’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that he has travelled a lot, participated in numerous conferences and panels and promoted Bosnia at numerous events throughout the past five years during which he has not served any political offices in the country.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina must be a country of human rights, where differences are a good thing. If we become that, the region will as well, and it the region does, so will the EU,” he said.